Page:Engineering as a vocation (IA cu31924004245605).pdf/64

interest does not lie in teaching, but in the study of this, their favorite science. Each student is put through a course of instruction without any idea on the part of the instructor that he is to regard it as a tool, but merely because it is a part of the prescribed course of instruction. There are a few professors and instructors who rail bitterly at life because they must teach to earn a living: They think college is a fine place were it not for the students and their idea of happiness is to sit and study all day and night. The head of the institution may require certain text books to be used, but an examination of the books will reveal the word "omit" written on every page where practical examples are given, and at the beginning of every chapter filled with applications of the theory taught. It is not an uncommon thing to find a 300-page text book used and only a part of it given to the students when there are plenty of abridged works on the market which the teacher could use, supplementing the book with personal instruction were he not too lazy. Instead of using large books and giving a "skim" course, it would be better to give a short course from a small book and give it thoroughly. The writer believes that tutorial methods should be used to some extent in engineering schools, so that the instructors in mathematics, graphics and mechanics could be changed every semester and thus the teachers of mathematics would learn to know what their students require.